And commemorations are being worldwide today for the 15th anniversary of World AIDS Day. Some 25 million people have died from AIDS. Forty million people are living with HIV. Infection is also on the rise. Eleven thousand people — or one person every eight seconds — contract HIV on a daily basis. If present trends continue, AIDS will surpass the 14th century bubonic plague — otherwise known as the Black Death — as the deadliest outbreak of disease in human history.